Match Report by Rod Ellis
Leatherhead 4 Raynes Park Vale 0
Leatherhead advanced to the second qualifying round of the FA Trophy with a resounding 4-0 win against Raynes Park Vale at Fetcham Grove on Saturday.
Two goals from Nathan Hogan, a fine strike from Seb Tauta-Caballero and a skilful finish from Mark Waters gave the hosts an unassailable four goal lead.
In an incident packed cup tie, the clear difference between the two sides was Leatherhead’s ability to take advantage of the chances they created in front of goal, while Vale missed out on theirs – largely due to some poor finishing plus some fine saves from Sonny Wheeler, keeping a fifth clean sheet for Tanners from his last six matches.
Raynes Park suffered a set-back before kick-off, with leading goal scorer Trevan Robinson limping off injured in the pre-match warm up and giving up his starting place to Francisco Gomes.
Hogan gave Tanners the lead on 16 minutes, chesting the ball down on the edge of Vale’s penalty area before watching his deflected shot roll past goalkeeper Alieu Secka and into the net.
There followed a nine minute break in play after the referee sustained an injury and was unable to continue. An appeal went out for a qualified official from the crowd to run the line, while one of assistant referees continued the match from the middle.
Play resumed after the lengthy stoppage and Tanners were awarded a penalty on 38 minutes after an advancing Anas Igozouln was tripped in the visitors’ box by a Vale defender. Hogan gathered up the ball and neatly placed his spot kick low to Secka’s right, finding the corner of the net.
In first half added time, Leatherhead’s Tauta-Caballero hit a wide-angled shot into the visitors’ side netting before Vale’s Omarr Lawson missed a great chance to pull one back, hitting the post with a close range effort in front of an open goal.
Tanners missed an opportunity to extend their lead on 58 minutes when Jacob Breckon ran clear down the left and played the ball through to an advancing Hogan. But the keeper sprinted off his line to collect it ahead of the Leatherhead striker.
Continued pressure in Vale’s half saw the hosts add a third goal on 62 minutes. Lukas Franzen-Jones sent a looping delivery into the box from the right. Secka failed to gather cleanly and the loose ball ran out to Tauta-Caballero, with the on-loan Dorking Wanderers striker firing home from eight yards on his Tanners debut.
Kareem Akinnibi should have added a fourth goal for the hosts when Hogan delivered a fine cross into the box from the left for the advancing Tanners sub. But Akinnibi skewed his shot, firing wide from a great position in front of goal.
Leatherhead’s fourth goal eventually arrived on 84 minutes. A short corner from Hogan picked out Waters at the near post, who cleverly guided the ball past Secka with a faintest of touches.
Gomes missed a chance to grab a consolation goal for Raynes Park in added time, but Wheeler made an excellent block to deny the former Leatherhead front man.
Tanners are back in action on Tuesday when they visit AFC Whyteleafe for a Velocity Cup tie. Kick-off at Church Road is at 7.45pm.
Leatherhead: Sonny Wheeler, Niran Butler, Cameron Black (Ross Stepney), Mark
Waters, Lukas Franzen-Jones, Seb Tauta-Caballero (George Hedley), Kelvin
Massango, Nathan Hogan, Louie Paget, Anas Igozouln (Kareem Akinnibi), Jacob
Breckon (Ty Butler)
Raynes Park Vale: Alieu Secka, Juevan Spencer (Chad Yassin-Sheriff 45), Tyler Cox
(Obi Orizu 73), Mo Kamara, Ollie Cook, Jamal Abubakari, Jamie Splatt, Gus Sow,
Francisco Gomes, David Omilabu (Ethan Ford 29, Callum Morris 90), Omarr Lawson
